I was homeschooled and it worked out well for me. You have to be intrinsically motivated and have a deep curiosity about the world. Actually, all kids are born curious but they lose it over time as adults get annoyed with all their questions! I appreciated the freedom to blow an entire day learning about something just because it was interesting. This turned out to be super valuable for my career. Being homeschooled gave me the chance to play with computers all day and I started coding at age 10. This gave me a huge head start on my peers who didn't start coding until college. I also credit homeschooling for teaching me to think outside the box. As a kid I always complained about the social aspect and the lack of team sports. I found ways to interact with other kids, but it took a lot of intentional effort. My mom was an English teacher and my dad was an engineer, so they were reasonably equipped for the task of giving me an education. It's not for everyone, but I'm thankful I was homeschooled.
Laura Deming, founder of the Longevity Fund, on being homeschooled
131–140 of 214 posts
Re: Laura Deming, founder of the Longevity Fund, on being homeschooled
#132Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Why don't we see how valuable aging and death are? Because they're horrific tragedies that we should be fighting tooth and nail until they're extinguished and nobody ever has to deal with them again. They should be consigned to the history books. > Aging is a process of coming to terms with death. Aging is a biological problem that we continue to debug. And nothing should make us "come to terms" with being oblitera…
From an individual perspective I don't think there should be any doubt that solving death is a fantastic goal. It's the threat that is poses to the system, threats to which we have no better tool than death. Old age and death is still the number one tool for solving: - empires and tyrants - outdated societal opinions and prejudices (racism/sexism/etc) - locked in privilege and wealth - ossification of social roles -…
> We have no truly effective tools for these problems
We have many effective tools for these problems. Death, in addition to everything else wrong with it, is already not particularly effective in that regard. (And "we should let 150,000 people die every day because some subset of those people are hurting others" is not a good argument.)
Societal problems should not wait for a generational time-scale. People will not wait that long, nor should they have to.
Re: Laura Deming, founder of the Longevity Fund, on being homeschooled
#133> But with longevity and other deeply existential problems, the horror of what’s happening has been tragically normalized. I will never understand this attitude. Why don't we see how valuable aging and death are? How can we possibly reframe this as a "horror". The horror is this idea that personal identity can go on indefinitely. Aging is a process of coming to terms with death. None of this is being "tragically norm…
Death is the greatest equalizer.
It worries me that even now you have rich people that are 70 and are still trying to make more money abusing other people. Imagine if you could keep your wealth for 50 more years. Further more if money is the gateway to 50 more years. Money would be even more important than it is now.
I really don't want to significantly expand lifespans unless we can keep things fair for everybody.
Re: Laura Deming, founder of the Longevity Fund, on being homeschooled
#134>I grew up homeschooled in NZ with a hilariously small amount of context for what the real world was like. kind of a blunt take here but yeah, homeschooling will do that because its limited to what your parents know. Public schools work to immerse kids in a diverse environment with many people from many different walks of life. they work to build soft skills like empathy, listening, and conflict resolution. she says…
> Public schools work to immerse kids in a diverse environment with many people from many different walks of life.
Public schools are a reflection of the communities they're placed in and in much of rural America diversity isn't at play.
Astra Taylor's response to a critique (of the paywalled article below) demonstrates the nuance (https://nplusonemag.com/online-only/online-only/learning-in-...)
> I actually chose to go to public high school in Georgia for three years, where I saw the good and bad first hand. Unlike Goldstein, who glories in having “benefited from 13 years of public education in one of the most diverse and progressive school districts in the United States,” the school I attended was predominantly African-American and viciously segregated, with the white kids funneled into advanced and gifted courses while everyone else, the vast majority, languished. Thus, in my essay I ask, “Are schools social levelers or do they reinforce the class pyramid by tracking and sorting children from a young age?” Any honest progressive needs to admit the answer is both
Your take is kind of obvious, but it's too monolithic. There are certainly some of my old friends that match your description to the T: socially awkward, insular knowledge, holding onto their parent's religious extremes.
But they also have siblings that are polar opposites, for example one got a PhD in Evolutionary Bio (much to their parents ire).
I think you're absolutely right that money and class are at the center of this, 'yacht schooling' is definitely a thing and their experiences should not be extrapolated generally.
Paywalled, but these stories also worth a read and N+! is well worth the money. * https://nplusonemag.com/issue-33/essays/homeschool/ * https://nplusonemag.com/issue-13/essays/unschooling/
Re: Laura Deming, founder of the Longevity Fund, on being homeschooled
#135Earlier quoted context omitted.
"The average homeschooled kid is much more likely to miss social cues, stumble through a difficult interaction with feckless ineptitude, or even parrot their parents own myopic stereotypes or falsehoods." Curious if this is something you have direct experience with/referencing a study or if you're just repeating the commonly held trope. I work at a school that has welcomed a large number of former home schoolers and…
As a homeschooling parent, we hear this trope all the time and it has not been borne out by our experience at all. My wife and I probably both have above-average social skills, but our kids are all well-spoken, empathetic, and kind for their ages, and we tend to have to help them unlearn the social "skills" they learn from their friends who go to public school. And we're not really sticklers when it comes to behavior…
As a former homeschooled child (K-10, I started attending community college in 11th grade) who is still in contact with many dozens of friends I met through homeschooling, I would agree. I would say that my homeschooled friends probably average just a bit better in the social skills department than my friends who attended private and public schools. That said, my homeschooled friends almost all came from middle-class, two-parent households from the suburbs, so my guess is that any advantage in those skills was more likely to be due to that than their schooling.
If you keep your kids locked at home 24/7 they will certainly have difficulty learning how to talk to other kids and adults, but nearly nobody does that. Most homeschooled families were involved in organized classes and activities with other families, even 20-30 years ago and my impression is that those experiences have only increased.
Re: Laura Deming, founder of the Longevity Fund, on being homeschooled
#136Earlier quoted context omitted.
Solving a problem starts with seeing it as a problem rather than an immutable fact. And "suppose we didn't have the problem" is a thought experiment. In this case, it helps show the moral equivalence between killing people and stopping people from living longer.
I'm not saying we should stop people from trying to live longer. I'm saying be careful what you wish for.
I am aware that there are many additional things we'll have to solve as people live longer. Bring them on, they're better than the alternative.
And I appreciate that you aren't saying that we should stop people, but others are, and that's a serious problem.
Re: Laura Deming, founder of the Longevity Fund, on being homeschooled
#137I know a lot of homeschoolers. Some had great experiences. Some had truly terrible experiences. But regardless, they turned into functional, developed adults at about the same rate as publicly schooled kids. I think it's important for parents to realize that a lot of these choices are mostly about enjoyment and convenience, and they don't need to beat themselves up if they feel like they are failing because they can'…
Honestly timetable isn't bad if your school stops abusing you. Stop punishing kids. Stop grading them like factory workers or defective products. Stop putting them all in one classroom. Change their course work to be more interactive and make an environment where people can naturally be social... I follow this Japanese light novel where they simulate real world in a school setting. The school campus has everything -…
>I have to ask people how they feel about something, what their thought process is and why/how. I can't understand it. I have difficulty understanding your common moral compass. I am not joking when I tell you to explain small gestures and facial expressions. And I feel sad too. I just can't show it always. I don't need to cry or look dead serious to say something serious.
That's really rough, and I'm sorry you have to go through it. There are people out there that are understanding, and I hope you're able to find them sooner than later. I also hope you're able to find more things that bring you joy.
Re: Laura Deming, founder of the Longevity Fund, on being homeschooled
#138Earlier quoted context omitted.
As someone who was homeschooled and socialized almost exclusively with other homeschoolers as a kid, I was on the fence about it. Then I grew up and met people who went to public school. Holy cow I can’t believe people think it’s ok to put their kids through that! I can’t believe we collectively accept children being exposed to the violence and other problems that are pervasive there! It’s not surprising so many peop…
> I can’t believe we collectively accept children being exposed to the violence and other problems that are pervasive there! It’s not surprising so many people become criminals now. But on the flip-side, would you want to go your entire life without facing any conflicts? FWIW, I was bullied in middle school, and pretty much had to fight my way through. As in fist fighting. As an adult, I don't tolerate any bullshit -…
> But on the flip-side, would you want to go your entire life without facing any conflicts?
This is a false dichotomy. It's not like you need to be exposed to drugs, violence, and sexual assault in order to 'face conflicts'. For 100% of children, simply disagreeing with a friend, fighting on the playground, etc is enough. Unfortunately, public school provides a lot of the former, and not exactly a lot of the latter.
Re: Laura Deming, founder of the Longevity Fund, on being homeschooled
#139This is super interesting! I wonder what other homeschooled people think of their experiences!
If you want an eye-opening, follow https://www.reddit.com/r/HomeschoolRecovery/ for a bit. I've seen some really terrible examples of homeschooling that left people stunted and overwhelmed by the world. The best I've seen is from parents that spent an immense amount of time working with their kids and who went out of their way to expose their kids to ideas that the parents didn't necessarily agree with. The worst out…
Meh... if you want to read about the trauma of public schools just read the 'normal' mental illness subreddits. Public schools is so normalized that all the trauma it causes isn't attributed solely to schooling. Think of the number of kids upset about being bullied, suicides from peer pressure, etc.
Re: Laura Deming, founder of the Longevity Fund, on being homeschooled
#140I know a lot of homeschoolers. Some had great experiences. Some had truly terrible experiences. But regardless, they turned into functional, developed adults at about the same rate as publicly schooled kids. I think it's important for parents to realize that a lot of these choices are mostly about enjoyment and convenience, and they don't need to beat themselves up if they feel like they are failing because they can'…
> functional, developed adults at about the same rate
This is the part where I'm going to need some academical research. I really don't know either way - but I wouldn't take your word for it (Of course you could be researching this subject for years but you have only presented me with anecdotal evidence, which can be explained by selection bias).